DIY Fall Tree

My second favorite time of year for decorating is Fall, and for me, Fall starts on September 1st. That's when I break out all my pumpkins, sunflowers, marigolds, gourds, mums, scarecrows, and turkeys. My house goes from calming blues and grays to pops of orange, red, and yellow. 

If you've been around these parts long enough and you stalk my Instagram, you'll know that I make a lot of the decor for my home. Wreaths, flower arrangements, chalkboard signs, mailbox bows, picture frames, among other things. And every year brings something new to the mix. This year my mom was  telling me about her fall tree. Basically a Christmas tree with fall type decor on it. While I wasn't about to pull out one of my four trees, I thought about how I could still have a fall tree. Then I saw a craft post on either Pinterest or Facebook, I don't remember where, and BOOM. Fall tree idea. 

What you need:

Tomato Cage

Floral Tape

Hot Glue Gun

Roll of Floral Wire

Lots of leaf garland

Ribbon (optional)

Orange lights (optional)

Directions:

You want your tomato cage to be upside down, with the big circle on the bottom and the loose ends on the top. Then hot glue the three ends together into a point. 

Take a long length of floral wire and make another vertical post in between each of the tomato cage "legs" between the bottom and middle circles. Then you'll have a total of 6 posts to wrap the leaf garland around. 

Wrap and wrap and wrap your leaf garland around the tomato cage, securing with floral tape where needed. You want to make sure you don't have any large gaps. 

Then you can add other stuff like ribbon or lights to make it your own! Cool right? After I made mine, I got an awesome idea for Christmas and had to run out and buy another tomato cage. So you've got that to look forward too!

Do you make any of your season home decor? 

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Pumpkin Spice Season has begun!!!!
While I'm not a fan of the lattes, I do enjoy the candles and I like to include pumpkin in my recipes. Ever since I discovered these easy oatmeal cookies, I've been experimenting with other flavors and combinations. It takes a little trial and error, but I finally perfected a Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe.

Ingredients

1 can pumpkin
3 cups oatmeal
3 tbs Cinnamon
2 tbs vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
1/4 cup Coconut Sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2-3/4 bag Diary Free Chocolate Chips (you can use regular chocolate chips)
1 cup dried cranberries (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F
Mix together all dry ingredients, except chocolate chips and cranberries, in a large mixing bowl.
Add the vanilla and pumpkin. Mix until evenly blended.
Add Chocolate Chips and Cranberries if you choose, mix well.
Spoon the "dough" onto a foiled and lightly greased cookie sheet to form the cookies. These cookies do not spread or rise, so however you shape them is how they will come out.
Bake for 8 mins.
Let cool and Enjoy!

*store in the refrigerator

These cookies are perfect for a snack on the go or re-heat in the microwave for a sweet treat after dinner. I like to portion them out in baggies for easy access.

Are you excited for fall? Do you like all things Pumpkin Spice?

Hello Fall

I didn't show up to class last week #badblogger

I would spew a bunch of apologies at you, but I'm really not that sorry about it. School and life just take precedence sometimes. I still love you guys and I did miss this space. I'm grateful to have a place to come to. I'm grateful for you, my dear readers, and all the amazing feedback I receive, even when I abandon you for a week.

You know what else I'm grateful for? Fun shopping trips with Philip. Halloween is around the corner and that means that the costumes, candy, and decor are flooding the stores. An impromptu photo shoot in the middle of Target was necessary.

And since it's fall, I broke out the fall decor. I put the final touches up yesterday and I have to say I am very pleased with myself. I was so glad the Amish store up the street had corn stalks for sale, it saved my decor idea for my porch. What do you think?

What are you grateful for?

Don't forget that the second edition of the Conversations Link-up is tomorrow! And guess who's co-hosting?? Emily from Ember Grey. I am so excited! See you lovelies tomorrow!

A "Recipe" for Autumn-mazing

Pin this! Do it now!

See what I did there. Autumn-Mazing. Autumn + Amazing. No? Is it lame?
I don't care. that's what I'm calling this, cause Fall Crack and Autumn Crack sound weird.

Anywho! My Snicklefritz Kay posted a picture on Instagram of a Fall version of Christmas Crack. IT LOOKED DELICIOUS. And not as sticky or messy as the Christmas one, so I skipped off to Target to get the supplies.

What you need:

A large bowl with a lid.
(a) 1/2 bag of pretzels, preferably bite sized or sticks
(b) 1 bag of M&Ms (I choose the Autumn colors, but you don't have to)
(c) 1 bag of S'mores Candy Corn
(d) 1 small can of salted peanuts.
(e) 1/2 to 3/4 bag of Indian Corn

What you do: 

Dump it all in a bowl and mix it up.


Easiest recipe ever right? Seriously. I'll be eating this all season. What else would you add?